


We Won't Lay Down and Die (This Is Who We're Meant To Be)

by KilannaD



Series: What is it to be a Hero? [9]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Iron Fist (TV), Jessica Jones (TV), Luke Cage (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - The Defenders (Marvel TV) Season 01, Multiple Pov, Never - Freeform, Universe Alteration - Alternate Timeline, Universe Alteration - Peter is Matt's son, no beta we die like my ADHD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:48:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28917852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KilannaD/pseuds/KilannaD
Summary: There are missing people. More than usual. And they’re all connected to a new batch of heroin in town, but we can’t track down the supplier--Or; the Hand makes their move and the Defenders finally team up.
Relationships: Matt Murdock & Elektra Nachios, Matt Murdock & Jessica Jones & Luke Cage & Danny Rand & Peter Parker, background romance - Relationship
Series: What is it to be a Hero? [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2014840
Comments: 12
Kudos: 114





	We Won't Lay Down and Die (This Is Who We're Meant To Be)

**Author's Note:**

> I'M SOOOOORRRRRY. I promised this to y'all like two days ago and it's been sitting at 7000 words for the last week but my ADHD decided to hyperfocus on Oberyn Martell (GOT) centric fanfic and I just... fell into that hole. ANYWAY  
> The last 4000 words of this are terrible. I haven't even bothered to reread this, so the typos and shit are going to be worse than usual. THAT BEING SAID  
> META STUFF: the Chinese characters that I found used for Shou-Lao very loosely translate to an awkward phrasing of old/wise animal/beast. Shou-Hei--who will come up--i based on the characters of black beast but maintained the awkward phrasing just cause. Esthetic, I suppose. Anyway. Point is--translations are stupid and hard and you should all keep that in mind.  
> Also; we have an actual canon address for Midland Circle but that address puts it on the boarder of Hell's Kitchen but I moved it closer to midtown proper for future reasons that have to do with the last scene.   
> There is a line about a Mandate being not going into collapsing buildings--that came from an anon on tumblr.

Vinny calls Beelzebub with a warning and he passes it to everyone he knows. With the help of Black Clematis and her contacts, and Belphegor sending it through some back channels, soon all the underground knows and is warned.

The government found a way to suppress powers.

Scott doesn’t ask how Beelzebub got a way to contact an X-Men, but he does say that the X-Men found out when one of their own had been arrested for trespassing during a mission. Beelzebub almost wants to be sour that they didn’t spread the word to other supers, but figures they operate alone. Beelzebub passes on contact information for him and Black Clematis and goes his own way.

The underground stays quiet for a little longer, watchful and wary of this new variable. There’s relief from the public when the news breaks, alongside the announcement of a prison designed for supers called the “Ice Box”. Everything enters a suspicious calm, Normals still desiring more control but content to know there are ways to hold supers, at the very least. Some mutate—one of the escaped SHIELD prisoners—is the first resident of the Ice Box. When nothing disastrous happens for a whole week, it’s accepted that the Ice Box, ridiculous name aside, is at least capable. There’s talk of transferring Luke Cage, but Matt gets him cleared and out of Riker before it can happen.

* * *

“Matt.”

“Luke. Glad to see you.” There’s a huff of air, half amused half resigned, and Matt grins widely. They’d talked, ages ago, when Luke had woken from the gunshot and had since kept decently in touch. Not really friends but more than acquaintances. Luke, at the very least, doesn’t flinch when Matt has bruises, doesn’t skirt around the fact that he is a vigilante. Jess is much the same.

It’s nice, having people that don’t care about his night hobby. That, while worried about a teenager, understand that _not_ helping people isn’t an option for Peter.

“You have time for lunch?” Matt offers, letting Luke open the door and pretend to lead him to the bus stop.

“A quick one, sure. Promised Claire I’d take her out for coffee, though.”

Matt tilts his head, reads the excitement and arousal, the soft caring caress around her name. He’d briefly heard that Claire and Luke had…something, but it’s nice to see Luke cares about Claire beyond sex. She deserves happiness.

“You hate coffee,” he points out with a wiggled eyebrow. Foggy and Peter have both assured him it makes him look suitably lewd and absurd.

“Do I?”

They share a laugh and settle into companiable silence on the bus and until they hit a dinner settled between Harlem and Hell’s Kitchen.

“How are things?” Luke asks quietly. Matt considers, chewing slowly, before he answers.

“Nothing has exploded for a few weeks, so better than last time you were here.” Another quiet huff of laughter. “I haven’t heard anything huge out of Harlem, but I don’t really keep up with stuff outside the Kitchen unless Peter mentions it. The Kitchen…” Matt frowns, teeth snapping around the tins of his fork, the stainless steel rasping against his tongue, the soap and scrubber used tingling on his senses. “There’s missing people. More than usual. And they’re all connected to a new batch of heroin in town, but we can’t track down the supplier.”

“Not even Clematis?”

“Not even Clematis. And from the way Peter tells it, she mad about it, too. I’ve heard she’s shaking down all her connections and nothing’s fallen out yet.”

“Girl doesn’t like to not know things,” Luke points out sensibly. Matt nods the point.

“I’m more worried about who has such a leash on their people that none of them have talked. Even Fisk’s people, eventually, mentioned his name to someone, somewhere.”

“But you haven’t heard a thing?”

“No.” Neither of them mention how little that makes sense considering Matt’s senses.

“I heard about the Coney Island thing,” Luke offers, changing the subject. “I saw a couple new guys in Riker that had to do with it. Something Toomes?”

“Yeah. Adrian Toomes, went by ‘the Vulture’.” Matt pushes down the familiar rage that bubbles when he thinks about Peter facing him alone.

“You weirdoes with suits and names.”

“Hey, I haven’t been arrested for vigilantism yet.” Luke concedes the point with a hum, but Matt doesn’t doubt that Luke and Jess will continue to refuse secret identities. Even if everyone calls Luke ‘Bulletproof’ anyway.

“Kid alright?”

“Yeah.” No. Peter, while now healed and back in school for the spring semester, almost never slept through the night, waking with screams on his lips. He’d taken to leaving his window open at all hours, despite the temperature, and could barely stand going into the closet for their suits without having a panic attack.

Luke doesn’t say anything, just waits, heart heavy and even, breath slow and quiet. Luke, Matt’s found, always sounds calm and patient, a stone in a river. He also doesn’t believe bullshit.

“He’s as good as can be expected,” Matt amends. “Took care of Vulture, saved his life from the fire that started when his suit malfunctioned. We have a new rule about no fights on planes, but I can’t exactly tell him to stop. He’d told me he was going after a weapons dealer, I just didn’t realize how _bad_ it was going to be.” And doesn’t that burn. Matt had seen the aftermath of the ferry, helped settle Peter in bed for the two days it took his strained muscles to heal. He _knew_ those weapons were dangerous. But when Peter had called him, seconds before Matt had gone into court, to tell him Black Clematis had gotten him a lead, Matt had done nothing but warned him to be careful and call if he needed help. He’d been so distracted by Barnes, by arguing the case that made his career, that he hadn’t gone with Peter to deal with someone they knew was dangerous.

~~Jack would’ve dropped everything for Matt.~~

“You’re a good dad, Matt,” Luke says softly.

~~Matt has no basis for what a blank face looks like so can’t fake one.~~

~~He doesn’t start the pointless argument. He knows the truth.~~

~~Matt Murdock disappoints _everyone_.~~

* * *

Harlem is almost the exact same that Luke remembers it. There are a lot more stares, walls filled with graffiti of _him_ of all things, but it's the same people, Dahlia doing her same thing. It all combines to make something so bittersweet that tastes like it could be home.

It's been a while since he had one of those for any length of time.

Claire, for the short hour or two he manages to have her, is a sweet reminder of what could happen if he just manages to make things work. Of course, Misty has her own thoughts for work.

Turns out, Matt had been understating the problem with the missing people.

“Do they have any connection to the up in heroin?”

Misty raises a brow, shifting back to fold her arms. “You _just_ got out. How do you know about the heroin?”

“Met up with a friend, he told me.”

“Uhhuh. And does this friend have a name?”

Luke smiles, remaining silent. Misty, as he knew she would, capitulates quickly and shakes her head. “I want to hear from this friend if he has any more information.” Matt, Luke’s certain, always has more information that he refuses to share. Not that Misty needs to know that. “But, yeah. Everyone that’s missing is either hooked on the new heroin or connected to someone who is. Not that it helps, much, considering we can’t find where the heroin is coming from.”

“I’ll figure it out.”

“Look, Luke. You can’t do things by yourself, this time around. I want your help, but we need to do this by the books. Harlem might be friendly to you, but there’s a lot of people who don’t want to see supers walking the street right now. I’ve been put in charge of a task force to handle this, spread all over the city. We won’t say no to information from supers, but you can _not_ go vigilante on me again. You hear?”

Luke hums, nodding. When Misty pinches her lips together he meets her eyes to assure, “I just want to help my city, alright? I won’t do anything that isn’t necessary.”

“That isn’t as comforting as you seem to think it is.”

Is anything?

* * *

New York is just as interesting as he remembers it. While K’un Lun spent more time on physical training, Danny had learned his English letters (and those of other, more ancient, languages) as well. Even so, the bright, colourful boards and shuffling screens are all so _new_ even months after he first returned that he can’t quite stop boggling. Colleen, smiling and indulgent, leads him to her dojo in a long, slow, meander. Despite being here to hunt down the Hand, it’s nice to take simple pleasure from walking with his girlfriend through his city.

Which is how they hear about the heroin and subsequent missing persons. They knew the Hand had been developing heroin before they’d left, though the _why_ had always hovered out of reach. The answer, apparently, is to make it easier to kidnap citizens.

Danny might not know why, but whatever the reason, it can’t be good.

So much for taking it easy.

* * *

Beelzebub and Daredevil race across the rooftops, silent and swift. Black Clematis had heard rumors—nothing she could confirm, she’d stressed—that a heroin deal would be going down in Hell’s Kitchen at 47 and 12th. Thus far, it’s the only lead they’d managed to get.

It also turns out to be a false one.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Daredevil snarls, twisting away from the tied up drug dealer. Not heroin. Just some regular meth bullshit. Beelzebub finishes tying them up, despite worrying minimally about them escaping.

“They’re just stupid kids,” he mutters and Daredevil jerks his head in agreement. They know nothing about the heroin or missing people so Daredevil and Beelzebub put in a call and head back to the roof.

Daredevil’s jaw is clenched tight, shoulders rolling. Beelzebub is about to suggest they reach out to Wade when his phone vibrates. He pulls it out, surprised to see _Black Clematis_ across the screen. She usually knows better than to call him while he’s out.

“Yeah?”

“ _Get to Soho._ ”

“Soho?” Daredevil tips his head to listen better to the call and Clematis’s tight, upset voice. “What’s in Soho?”

“ _Deadpool._ ”

“What about him?” They turn to head south, Beelzebub syncing his phone with his comm in an effort to leave his hands free for swinging.

“ _I just heard, but Vanessa Carlysle is dead_.”

“ _What_?!”

Daredevil curses again and puts on a burst of speed, Beelzebub over taking him easily. “Go, I’m right behind you.”

Beelzebub obeys, reaching out with both hands and slingshot-ing himself between two AC units and sending himself flying south.

“ _Happened a few weeks ago, but it’s been kept quiet. I went looking for DP and couldn’t find him. He’s gone AWOL._ ”

“Fuck.”

“ _My thoughts exactly._ ”

“Double-D and I will look into it. Thanks BC.” The call cuts off and Beelzebub has just reached 42nd and is about to cross over into Hudson Yards when his danger sense shrieks and the world begins to shake around him.

There’s screaming, the screech of metal against metal as cars twist into each other, copper in the air heavy enough to draw attention. The building beneath him quivers, already unsteady from the Incident and Beelzebub flings himself back just in time to avoid the crumbling roof. There’s another scream, closer and more distinct, a woman calling a name and Beelzebub doesn’t hesitate to follow the sound. There’s a little girl, barely old enough for school, pinned beneath rubble, bawling as her mother tries to calm her.

~~There’s concrete and dust around him, pinning him-~~

He lands, shocking the woman who rears back. She’s wearing one of the normies’ pro-control pins but Beelzebub doesn’t pay attention to that, just lifts the beam and pulls the little girl out, careful of her injured legs. Broken, no doubt.

“The roads won’t be functioning, can you carry her to the nearest hospital?”

“Wh-I-I-”

“Can you carry her to the nearest hospital?!”

“Y-yes.” The woman’s face settles into determination, streaked with tears. “Yes, I can take her. Thank you.” She scoops up the crying girl and limps away but Beelzebub doesn’t have time to help beyond that.

He reaches for his phone, hits the speed-dial for Vinny.

“ _Make it quick._ ”

“I’m going to give someone your number, his name is Belphegor. Tell him where the NYPD needs the most help and he’ll coordinate the underground.”

“ _Got it_.” There’s a dial tone.

Ned, thank the spirits, is both alright and with a still functioning setup. MJ, who’d been heading there to see why Ned is still unusually quiet, is with him. Beelzebub passes on Vinny’s number and activates his comm, helping anyone he can see as he waits for directions.

“ _Belphegor in,_ ” comes the small, resolute voice. “ _I’ve got Beelzebub and Daredevil on the line, Black Clematis is connected with Luke Cage, and a few other of her contacts. Avengers and X-Men have already been notified and called in, they’re focusing on the collapsed buildings._ ” Beelzebub has never been so happy to hear Belphegor’s voice, focused and ready to go, all distraction and turmoil from the last few weeks gone.

He doesn’t have long to appreciate it, though. The air is still filled with screams, after all.

~~Vigilantes are never done.~~

* * *

She didn’t want the case. To be fair, Jess didn’t want a lot of things. PTSD, bills, Malcolm insisting on becoming her assistant, Trish’s newfound obsession with IGH. But in this situation, she should’ve, maybe, in theory, have been able to say _no_. No to the case. No to hunting down some sleezbag sleeping with his assistant. No to all of it.

Except than someone had called her and _told her_ to say no.

Jessica Jones did not take orders.

_~~“Smile, Jessica.”~~ _

Ever.

And so, here she is, investigating said previously mentioned sleezbag. Except, perhaps, he may not actually be a sleezbag. He might just be a terrorist, she considers, staring at the pile of explosives stashed behind a secret door in his personal office.

Of course, that’s when the world decides to shake apart at the seams.

She should’ve stayed in bed.

* * *

Daredevil and Beelzebub don’t end up going to Soho to check on Deadpool. Mostly, this is because they hear about his apartment being blown up during the earthquake. Weasel assures Black Clematis that he’s fine and going on another revenge quest and to let him do his thing and considering the state of the city, Matt and Peter have to accept it.

They get a call from Luke, a few days after the earthquake when everything is calming down. The heroin and missing persons thing seems to be thick in Harlem and some rich white guy—Luke’s words—is apparently hunting down something called the Hand which he claims is behind the heroin. Luke has yet to forget the whole Frank thing had been interrupted by the whole Stick thing (where the Hand had been mentioned) and considering the Hand seems to be a Daredevil thing, you maybe want to meet up and trade info?

Yes, Daredevil most certainly wants to trade information good sir, why don’t we all meet up at the abandoned building where Hudson Yard meets Hell’s Kitchen for a powwow.

Plans in motion, Matt is about to contact Jess to see if she knows anything when he gets a call from her asking him to get her out of a holding cell. Again. Because apparently someone had been killed in her apartment and no, Matthew, she is not the one responsible, the NYPD is just upset because she found the explosives first.

This is not enough information for Matt. He goes down to the precinct and tells Peter that he’ll meet him tonight with the others.

* * *

Luke and Danny arrive first and make their way into the building specified by Daredevil. Part of the roof collapsed during the earthquake but they’ve been assured that the building has settled, is safe, and most importantly, the owner has been trying in vain to sell the property since the Incident and thus no one ever checks it out.

“Is there a reason,” Danny wonders, drawing a finger through the dust on one of the discarded tables, “That we can’t meet at my apartment?”

“To be fair,” a low voice drawls, slinking out of the shadows, “I had thought everyone would prefer distance and privacy from our real lives.”

“Only you and the spider demon wear stupid getups,” Jessica Jones snarks, going to shove Daredevil aside and instead getting nothing but air as he neatly steps aside.

“Parden me for not enjoying being arrested every third day.”

“Hey,” Luke interrupts. “I don’t get arrested every third day. It’s more like a once a week, thing.”

Jess’s lips twitch into a smile before dropping off. “Luke.”

“Jess.”

“Danny,” Danny adds. They all look at him. “I’m Danny. Is this all of us?”

From above them, a shattered window tinkles as another dark form crawls through and flips down to land in a silent crouch.

“Yep,” Beelzebub announces, standing up.

“You’re late,” Daredevil says.

“Sorry, the intervention ran a little long. What’d I miss?”

“Weird by-play,” Jess throws in, pulling out a flask. “Nothing you need to worry about.”

“Right, okay, cool. Cool cool. Just, uh, sorry, who exactly is this?” He gestures at Danny, who stands up straight.

“I’m Danny Rand.”

“Oh, yeah, I’ve heard about you.” Danny, surprised at being recognized for once, preens a little.

“You’ve heard of him?” Jess can’t help but ask.

“Sure. One of my friends keeps up with all the rich white guys in the city so she can better complain about their privilege.”

Danny chokes a little, scowling. “I’m not-”

“Dude,” Luke interrupts. “Don’t even try.”

With a sigh, Danny tries again. “I’m the Immortal Iron Fist.”

There’s a beat of silence before Daredevil tilts his head to the side and says, “Is that… your secret identity?”

“What?”

“Secret identity. Or codename. Alia? Like, I’m Daredevil. He’s Beelzebub. You’re apparently the Immortal Iron Fist.”

“No, no. It’s a title.”

“Seriously? Dude.” Beelzebub steps forward, circling him. Danny turns to keep him in sight. “How’d you earn the title of Immortal?”

“I fought the dragon Shou-Lao.”

“You’re fucking kidding me,” Jess spits out. Beelzebub looks at Daredevil, who, after a moment of consideration, nods his head with a shrug.

“ _So cool_ ,” Beelzebub mutters. “Do you think-”

“No.” Beelzebub pouts, but Daredevil goes on. “No, you cannot fight a dragon. You know what? That’s going on the Mandates.”

“Oh come _on_. First the building thing after the earthquake and now this?”

“You still have those?” Jess laughs. “They still on your fridge?” Daredevil doesn’t deign to answer.

“Man,” Luke mutters, “I don’t even want to know. Can we get on with this?”

“Yes,” Danny hurries to assure, settling a little more seriously. “Yes, we can start. What do you all know about the Hand?”

“Dicks,” Jess says immediately.

“That,” Luke and Beelzebub echo.

“Cult of Dicks,” Daredevil corrects.

“That-uh, well.”

“I’ve dealt with them some,” Daredevil offers. “Not much, but enough to know they’re strong and nothing good comes from them.”

“They’re evil,” Danny agrees. “They’re spread across the globe, have fingers in everything. Money, weapons, drugs.”

“Heroin?” Luke asks.

“Yeah. A couple months ago, when I first got back, found out they were distributing a synthetic heroin. It was bad, but it wasn’t _this_ bad. I didn’t hear anything about missing people, at least. I destroyed one branch of the Hand, but clearly not all of them.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Jess says. “These ninja cult dicks are the one distributing the heroin that is connected to all the missing people.” Danny confirms. “Great. Why?”

“I… don’t actually know. I was hoping you guys might have information that would make the connection clear.” There’s a moment of hesitation before, one by one, they all lay out everything they know about the heroin, missing people, and the Hand. It essentially boils down to this;

In Harlem, young adults are being used as cleanup for bodies. They get paid, they keep quiet, and, Luke suspects, get heroin. In exchange, they end up disappearing a few weeks later. Other, known drug users, get hooked on the heroin before disappearing themselves. Most people decide they overdosed in a alley somewhere and so no one really cares much. Hell’s Kitchen is much the same, except Daredevil has experience with blind kids being used as mules so he suspects that’s how the drugs are making it over the city. He hasn’t been able to find a factory, though he suspects Midland Circle, which he once investigated while it was still under construction, might have something to do with it because the Hand had been very insistent to keep him from investigating the big hole at its bottom. Jess says a wife came to her to look for her husband. He has no history of drugs, but from the bag in his office, Jess is fairly sure that he’s started using. Heroin. More interestingly, in his office she also found a trick wall hiding a pile of explosive. This architect? Designed Midland Circle. And then was murdered by a ninja in her apartment.

“It all comes back to Midland Circle. Could be a front,” Beelzebub points out.

“I think Rand Enterprises has some business with them.” Danny shakes his head. “I’d have to check the paperwork and that’d take too long. We should just attack.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“What do you mean _we_?” They all look to Jess. “Look, loved this kumbaya shindig, let’s not do it again. We all wanted to trade information, consider it traded. My job is dead and so there is no reason to bother with this.”

“Jess-”

“Don’t you ‘Jess’ me, kid. I’m a PI, not-” she waves at his and Daredevil’s ensemble- “whatever you are.”

“The Hand needs to be stopped,” Danny insists.

“Best of luck to you, I’ll send a fruit basket.”

“I just want to take care of Harlem,” Luke points out. “I got no stakes with this cult business.”

“But it’s _in_ Harlem.” Daredevil shifts his weight when they all look at him. “Look, I don’t usually do team ups if I can help it. BZ and I take care of Hell’s Kitchen and Midtown and that’s usually enough. But the Hand is _everywhere_. How many people have gone missing so far? How many more are to come?”

“Besides,” Beelzebub put in. “I think we’re all forgetting the important thing.”

“Which is?”

“We still don’t know _why_. The fact that they’re getting people hooked on heroin before taking them suggests they want the public to assume all the missing people are dead drug addicts. Which means they don’t want people looking into what they’re doing with dozens of young adults.”

“He’s right,” Danny adds in, waving his arms as he talks. “Whatever the Hand is planning, it isn’t good. The cops can’t handle this, so we need to.”

“I don’t need to do anything,” Jess snarls. “It’s shit like this that gets normies to push for government control of supers.”

“What to do what?” They all stare at Danny, incredulous.

“Dude, do you not pay attention to the news?”

“I, uh, haven’t been in New York lately.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Jess shakes her head. “No one is going to thank us for saving their asses. All it will do is blow back up in our faces.”

“We don’t do this for thanks,” Beelzebub insists. “We don’t do it for people to worship us, or pay us, or any of that. We have powers to help, so we have the responsibility to do it.” Jess opens her mouth but he barrels on. “And I _know_ you know that, because you took responsibility for Kilgrave.” Her jaw clicks shut with a snap and she glares at him as she finishes her flask. Her and Luke share a look and she spits out a curse.

“Fine,” she snarls. “But when this shit goes sideways, I’m saying I told you so.”

“I’d expect nothing less,” Daredevil drawls and then they shift to planning.

* * *

They’re settled in an alley across from Midland Circle when Beelzebub gets the text.

“Apparently, Deadpool’s joined the X-Men.”

“Who did what?” Luke asks. Daredevil shakes his head.

“You don’t know him. Besides, I know DP, and I doubt he’ll hang around with them.”

“Too organized,” Beelzebub acknowledges.

“Too legal,” Daredevil counters.

“Fascinating as this is,” Jess interrupts, “Are we done here yet?” Daredevil listens for a moment before shaking his head and they all quiet down again.

The plan involved Danny approaching Midland Circle from a business standpoint to see what information he could gather while the others hang around outside with Daredevil listening in for trouble. Beelzebub thought it was a good plan.

Then he remembers that Danny doesn’t exactly seem like the subtle type, proven when even he can hear gunshots.

With a lurch and a snarl, Daredevil gives the order and they all move, Luke and Jess walking calmly to the elevator while Beelzebub grabs hold of Daredevil and begins climbing up the side of the building.

By the time they crash through a window, rolling into the hallway in a spray of glass, the fight has already begun. Luke and Jess steamroll through the reinforcements coming from the stairwell as they exit the elevator and a sea of bodies separate them from Danny. Beelzebub goes high, running up the wall to get a better view as he webs enemies together, flinging one coming up behind Danny into the back of the hoard racing towards Luke and Jess. Daredevil slips into the fight easy, coming up behind and beginning to rip through them.

“Cover!” Luke shouts and they all fall in behind him as bullets fill the air. Beelzebub’s ears ring and he can’t imagine how Daredevil isn’t incapacitated by the sheer noise. There’s a single second where the guns click and Danny shouts for them to drop. They obey and the next moment the world is shaking again, the danger sense tingling a warning but otherwise remaining quiet as a shockwave spreads from their position and knocks over the Hand soldiers, shaking the wall.

Beelzebub’s up the next second, webbing down everyone as fast as he can. When someone gets up, Jess or Daredevil knocks them out easily until they’re standing in a sea of bodies.

“That went well,” Jess snarks. The danger sense _screams_ , and Beelzebub lunges for Danny, pulling him down and into a roll as a knife goes sailing where they’d just been. There’s a shuffle of curses that Beelzebub can barely make out, his instincts in over drive, so loud he hits flight before fight even seems like an option. By the time he gets up, Daredevil is engaged and shouting at them to run, Luke and Jess dragging Danny backward until he gets his feet under him. Beelzebub sidesteps Jess’s reaching hand, dives instead for his father because-

That’s Elektra.

It’s the same hair, the same easy grace of a predator,

~~The same way his senses shriek at him to run.~~

and Beelzebub can see the moment when Daredevil realizes who he’s fighting, when he pauses to sniff and his defense drops, enough for Elektra to go for a nerve cluster that make his arm turn useless even as Daredevil asks, voice small and confused;

“Elektra?”

There’s a flicker of something on her face that Beelzebub doesn’t bother to read, webs Daredevil and pulls until he’s flying towards him and they can both make it into the elevator. Elektra goes still, doesn’t give chase, just watches as the doors slide shut and everything in Beelzebub stands on end, scared and hunted, a predator coming from the shadows he can’t see.

“Who the hell was that?” Jess asks, but Beelzebub just says they need to be far away, _now_. His danger sense hasn’t quieted and he doesn’t trust the way his dad has gone silent, jaw clenched and fists flexing.

They go towards China Town—where Danny is based, apparently—staying in the shadows and alleys, twitching at every sound as evening is ushered in and it gets later and later.

They find a closing restaurant, bully their way inside with Danny’s money and language skills, closing everything they can to hide the fact that people are here.

“You ordered food?” Jess asks.

“Part of the deal,” Danny shrugs. She sneers, going for sake and staying clear of all the food.

~~Jess hates Chinese food.~~

They all sit, tension releasing. Except for Beelzebub.

“Beel?” Daredevil asks, quiet. “What is it?”

“Something’s wrong,” he murmurs, twitching with every buzz of the neon lights.

“Yeah, everything that just happened,” Jess snorts.

“No. Well, yes. I just…”

“Kiddo?”

“I don’t think we’re done yet, is all. Got a bad feeling.”

“We do need to figure out what we’re doing next,” Luke says, watching with inexplicable fascination as Danny eats more than even him. “We didn’t exactly get as much information as we wanted from that.”

“We confirmed that Midland Circle is a cover for the Hand,” Danny points out. “What was with the girl at the end?”

“Elektra,” Beelzebub offers, distracted as he walks across the walls, pacing to try and expend the desperate need to run crawling through his system.

“Sure, her. How do you know her?”

Daredevil shifts side to side and offers only; “We were trained by the same man.”

“You were trained by the Hand?” Danny asks.

“ _No_.” He huffs, rolling his shoulders. “Look, last I saw Elektra, she was on her way to _fight_ the Hand. I have no idea how this happened.”

“Well, it happened. What do we do about it, Devil Boy?” Daredevil scowls at Jess, who ignores him.

“I mean, don’t we have the same problem as before?” They all turn to Beelzebub. “ _Why_? Why do any of this? What do they want?”

“I can answer that, darling.” In their defense, they react instantly, turning and pulling weapons to face Elektra and the slowly spreading wall of Hand soldiers behind her. “I want Danny Rand.”

“What?” he asks. “Me?”

“That is what I said, yes.” She sweeps in front of them, ignoring Daredevil and the low whine that emerges from his throat, to stop in front of Danny. “The Immortal Iron Fist. Defeater of Shou-Lao. I need your help, so here I am, asking very nicely.”

“No,” he snarls instantly. “I will _never_ help the Hand.”

“Tsk, tsk. Never say never. It’s such a _strong_ word.”

“Elektra-”

“Matthew, how nice to see you again. Still, I’m a little surprised to find you in _this_ company.” She peruses them all slowly, eyebrows rising along with her grin. “Your son is expected, of course. But Harlem’s Hero? The Unyielding Woman? And let’s not forget the Iron Fist himself. Quite a layout.”

“What did you call me?” Jess asks.

“The Unyielding Woman.” Jess still looks confused and Elektra gives a sharp laugh. “Oh my. You don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“Why, how your famous, of course. All of you are. Hell’s Kitchen’s Demons are the most public and well known, despite your identities being a secret. But Bulletproof? Well, there’s quite few private armies who’d like to get their hands on your chemical makeup. As for the Unyielding Woman, well. Super strength, intelligent, _and_ immune to mind control? Your creators are willing to spend a pretty penny to get you back.”

“My _what_?!”

Elektra only laughs again, turning away before Jess has a chance to advance. “I think we’re getting off track, hm? I’ve told you what I came here for. You can either hand him over, or we can kill you all and take him anyway.”

“Why do you want him?” Beelzebub asks. “Not the smartest thing, taking your worst enemy into your HQ.”

“Oh, we aren’t trying to do anything _bad_. I just want to meet my father and to do that, I need the Iron Fist.”

“Your father?” Daredevil steps forward. “Elektra, your dad is-”

“Not my adoptive father, Matthew. My _real_ one. I’ve never known who my real parents are. But the Hand knows who my father is. And all I have to do is meet him.”

“You were adopted?” Daredevil shakes his head sharply. “No, I just mean-Elektra, this is ridiculous. Whoever your father is, I’m sure we can help you meet him— _without_ the cultists that are kidnapping innocent people! I know Stick is dead, but we might be able find another lead.”

“Matthew, Stick knew nothing about my parents.”

“You don’t-”

“I do. I asked him about it before I shoved my sword through his chest.” There’s a beat of horrified silence as Daredevil stares her down, jaw slack. “Oh, Matthew.” Elektra sighs quietly, stepping forward to cup his jaw. “I have wanted this for—well. Forever, really. I can’t stop now. And I can’t let anything stop me. Not when I’m so close. I have everything I need, except for the Iron Fist.”

“The civilians-”

“Are necessary.” Daredevil rears back, snarling wordlessly. “Oh, Matthew. I don’t want to hurt you.” She stands taller, eyes going cold. “I have no such feelings towards others, though. Have you checked on that journalist of yours, recently? Or your son’s friends?” She looks towards the others. “And what of your loved ones? Trish, her name is? And let’s not forget Colleen Wing. The Hand doesn’t like traitors, much.”

“Don’t you _dare_ -”

“I won’t—if you join me. Come now, Daniel. You and your loved ones will be left alone as soon as I get what I want. Is reuniting a daughter with her long lost father such a terrible thing?”

“It is when it serves the Hand,” Danny scowls. “I won’t let you hurt Colleen, or anyone else.”

Elektra sighs, stepping back from them all. “A pity.” She looks to the man on her right. “Take him.”

Fighting breaks out immediately, a whirl of bodies and weapons, of quick movements and flesh against flesh. Daredevil goes for Elektra, but Beelzebub stays close, taking out Hand after Hand and leaving them webbed where he can. But it doesn’t take long to realize they are terribly outmatched and outnumbered. Where one man falls, three others take his place. When one gets too close to the door with Danny in his hold, Luke calls for them to run. Beelzebub has to come up behind Elektra and fling her through the window while she’s distracted before he can drag Daredevil to follow.

They end up stealing one of the vans the Hand had used, Luke driving after he threw in a Hand soldier to be tied up in the back. They dumped the car in Chelsea and use back alleys to get to the abandoned building they’d first met at. The entire trip passed in tense silence, the Hand soldier the loudest of them all as he tried to wiggle his way out of his bonds. Jess sat on him to make him stop.

“What the _fuck_ ,” Jess says, breaking the silence after they’d tied the Hand soldier up in a back room. “Like, seriously. What is going on?”

“I don’t _know_ ,” Daredevil snarls, pacing in tight lines.

“We need to help our people,” Beelzebub broke in. “Get them to safety. If Elektra and the Hand knows who they are, then we need to get them somewhere safe.”

No one disagrees but Luke says, “Where do we put them?”

“With the cops?” Danny suggests.

“They can’t hold back the Hand,” Daredevil answers.

“Colleen can fight.”

“How well?” Jess asks.

“Good.”

“Okay, but do we really want to put a precinct in the Hand’s crosshairs?” Beelzebub inquires.

Jess hesitates before saying, “Trish has a bunker in her apartment. _I_ can’t even break down that door. They would be safe enough there.”

“Great, so we need to get them all there.”

“Yeah,” Luke says. “But what do we do with our buddy?”

“We can split up?” Beelzebub offers. “I know all of Double-D’s people, so they’ll listen if I tell them to come hide. He can stay behind and keep watch.”

“By himself? I don’t like it.”

“Well, who are your people, Luke? If you give me a note or something, I can grab them for you.”

“Claire is really the only one that needs to be grabbed. Misty is a cop and won’t listen to reason and go hide.”

“Oh, I know Claire. She’ll come if I tell her.”

“Wait,” Danny asks. “How do you know someone from his life? I thought you and Daredevil had secret identities?”

“We do. But Luke helped us out in a tough spot and found out a couple months back.”

“And I know their identities because I snoop,” Jess offers.

“So I’m the only one who _doesn’t_ know who you are?”

There’s a few moments of silence while Daredevil and Beelzebub share a look before, finally, Beelzebub shrugs and takes off his cowl. “I’m Peter. This is my dad.”

“Matt.”

“Oh. Well. Nice to meet you both, officially I mean.”

“You tell anyone and I’ll kick your ass,” Matt warns, putting his helmet back on alongside his son.

“Fair enough.”

“Touching as this all is,” Jess breaks in. “We need to get going. Me, Danny, and the kid will grab all of the normies. You two see if you can’t figure out what the cult wants with Daddy Warbucks.”

Matt pulls Peter in, murmuring, “Stay safe and watch your back.”

“You too.”

“You too are disgusting,” Jess announces as they leave.

“So sorry for having a loving relationship with my father, I’ll try for more daddy issues in the future.”

* * *

It’s not so much that getting everyone goes smoothly, more that it’s not as much of a cluster fuck as it could be. By the time they go for Trish—at a meeting with a few news outlets wanting her to speak on their shows about the recent break out of the Ice Box—they already have all the others and they get there just in time for the Hand to show up. Admittedly, it’s only four guys and between the three of them, it’s handled quickly, if publicly. Honestly, the most terrifying part of the trip is when MJ, Karen, and Trish all start talking to each other.

Of course, then Beelzebub gets a call from Vinny on their way back.

“Not the best time, my man.”

“ _Make time. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about Beelzebub and Jessica Jones being seen fighting ninjas today, would you?_ ”

“Whaaaa? No, no idea what you’re talking about.”

“ _Listen, buzo. I got a task force hunting down missing people and tracking heroin. I_ know _you and the Devil were looking into it and suddenly you got ninjas on your ass? Talk._ ”

“Who said we were looking into it?”

“ _You know a Brett Mahoney? Just made detective in the 15 th._”

“Brett, you _traitor_. He’s on the task force? Tell him I’ll make sure his mom gets an extra set of cigars.”

“ _I’ll pass it on. Now, what do you know?_ ”

“Vin, I love you man.” Jess gives him a strange look as they dart out of an alley and toward another. Man, he should’ve changed. “But this ain’t a cop thing. This is a super thing.”

“ _The current political climate disagrees_.”

“I don’t give two shits about the political climate. I care about saving lives.”

“ _So do I. But I can’t do that if I don’t know what’s going down._ ”

Beelzebub gives a strangled scream before breathing slowly. “Okay. Okay, fine. There’s a cult of ninjas called the Hand who want to do… something with the people. They used heroin to make it easier to kidnap them. And they are _too strong_ for fucking normies, so you stay out of this, capuche?”

“ _You know where their HQ is?_ ”

“What part of stay out of this did you not get?”

“ _All of it. This is my city too._ ”

“Man, take Carlo out for a romantic dinner or something, don’t get involved.”

“ _Where’s the HQ?_ ”

“I don’t know.”

“ _You’re a crap liar, Beel._ ”

“Look, just-” Beelzebub screams a little in his throat again before settling down. “If my team and I need help, you’ll get a message from someone called Belphegor. Or possibly someone called Black Clematis. Otherwise, you and your task force need to stay the fuck out of our way or you’ll just end up dead.” He hangs up before Vinny can say anything else, muttering about how much trouble it is to have a CopTM.

“We aren’t a team,” Jess points out.

“I don’t know,” Danny counters. “All of us fighting the Hand together, making plans, having our own HQ-” he waves at the decrepit building they’re coming up on- “I think that’s very team-ish.”

“For someone so filthy rich I’d think you’d have higher standards for an HQ,” Jess shoots back. “But we ain’t a team.”

“Sure, sure.”

When they get inside they find Luke and Daredevil talking in low voices in the main room, the Hand soldier unconscious and tied to a chair through another doorway.

“Well?”

“They’re all safe. You guys find anything?”

“Oh, we learned something.” Luke looks up at the ceiling. “Sweet sister, can’t believe I’m saying this. _Apparently_ , the Hand worships something called ‘the Beast’, whom they believe to be the father of the Black Sky, of which Elektra is one. What a Black Sky is, exactly, he can’t seem to tell us. Just that they’re the best warriors, children of the Beast, and are required to meet the Beast. Oh, and if they manage to summon the Beast, he’ll make them all immortal. Or something.”

“That…” Jess trails off, shaking her head. “ _What_?”

“Yeah, that was our reaction,” Daredevil drawls. “Don’t suppose you know anything about this, Danny?”

He frowns, scratching his head. “Well, legend in K’un Lun says that Shou-Lao, the wise dragon, fought against Shou-Hei, the black dragon and was victorious. Afterwards, K’un Lun worshipped Shou-Lao as our protector and in exchange, Shou-Lao passes on some of his power to the Iron Fist when a worthy warrior defeats him. I’m… not sure how the Hand plays into it all, to be honest. I was taught that the Hand is our worst enemy and K’un Lun must be protected at all costs.” He shrugs.

“So you were just taught to hate a group for no reason?” Luke asks.

“Well, clearly it’s not for no reason considering they’re _kidnapping_ people.”

“But they weren’t doing that when you were taught.”

“Look, I don’t have all the answers. We need to worry about _now_. Whatever the Beast is, it doesn’t sound like good news. And we need to save all the kidnapped people.”

“Midland Circle still seems like the best bet,” Jess points out. “Where else would they be keeping them all?”

“But when we were there, we didn’t see any sign of them,” Daredevil counters. “I’d have heard them, at least.”

“Even from the basement?” Daredevil scowls at Beelzebub. “Hey, don’t forget the big hole thing we found with Big Red and Elektra. We never figured out how deep it went because _someone_ wouldn’t let me go down.”

“You aren’t allowed to climb into potentially bottomless pits,” Daredevil reminds him, but tips his head. “If the people are down there, no, I wouldn’t have heard them while we were busy fighting upstairs.”

“Okay,” Danny says, “So that’s our target. What do we do with him?” He gestures to the captured Hand soldier, but they don’t have time to discuss. Beelzebub goes tense, instincts screaming. He hits the ground, dragging Jess along with him, just in time for an arrow to miss him and hit the tied up enemy. Something else hits the ground, the air going fuzzy and thick with smoke. Beelzebub rising, lunging for the person who just entered. He misses, vision swimming.

“Leave them,” someone says. “We have what we came for.” Beelzebub can’t make out who spoke, nothing but blurs registering. His legs go soft, swaying beneath him until he can’t help but fall, landing on someone else. There’s a shift in the room, light and shadows dancing off of each other until there is nothing at all.

* * *

Danny wakes up tied to a chair. He jolts, confused about where he is, a few lanterns barely holding back the darkness in the room surrounding him.

“Now now, Daniel. Calm down.” He jerks towards the voice and finds Elektra standing before him, pushing aside a body and letting two Hand soldiers cart it away. He wants to yell at her, to fight, but all he can do is breathe raggedly at what he sees.

A pile of bodies off to the side, each pale and thin and none breathing. In front of him; two streams of blood, thick and moving slowly to line in a deep indent in front of a huge stone wall, carved with runes. Runes he recognizes.

“You know what that says, don’t you?” He twitches towards her, but his eyes are drawn back. It’s the sacred text of K’un Lun, and he’s seen only one other tablet like this—outside Shou-Lao’s cave. “I can’t read it. Nobody among the Hand can. Not anymore at least. See, the five founders of the Hand were disciples of K’un Lun, once. Don’t know why they left and I don’t particularly care, but their writings that still survive today—copies of copies, you understand—well, they give us just enough to translate that wall. I’m told it speaks about the Beast and how to meet him.” She leans over him, pony tail swinging over her shoulder. “Why don’t you read me a bed time story, hm?”

“I will _never_ tell you what that says.” He won’t. He can’t. He’s not sure what she’d do if she realized this tablet doesn’t tell how to meet ‘the Beast’.

It tells the story of his death.

* * *

Midland Circle is almost insultingly under guarded. Did Elektra really think they wouldn’t be coming? Beelzebub supposes it doesn’t matter now.

Or maybe it does.

Beelzebub freezes, a tingle running down his spine. They’d made quick work of what few guards there were, and Daredevil had managed to find the hidden door that led to the Pit of Doom. Still, it isn’t the obvious danger that waits for them that makes every part of him uneasy. There is _something…_

“Beel?” Daredevil murmurs, pausing before continuing.

“Something’s not right.”

“No shit, Wall Crawler,” Jess says. “We’re about to go down a bottomless pit to fight a cult that wants to summon some sort of Beast all because one girl has daddy issues. Literally nothing about this is right.”

“No, not that. That just means it’s Monday.”

Jess glowers at him, muttering under her breath, “There is a tree out there growing wood for you coffin, fed by the bitter anger of anyone who has to listen to your jokes.”

“Bold of you to assume my body will ever be found,” Beelzebub chirps, but his damnable instincts still haven’t settle. Daredevil makes a choked sound and Beelzebub takes pity. “You guys go ahead, I’m going to check something out.”

“Beel-”

“I’ll be fine. This ain’t my first rodeo.”

“You sure?” Luke asks.

“Yeah. Save some ass for me to kick, if Danny hasn’t finished them all off.” After another, brief, hesitation, Luke, Jess, and Daredevil head down the hole and towards Danny and the Hand. Beelzebub follows his instinct, investigating some of the many rooms in the building.

Finally, he comes to what looks like a centralized support structure.

And the bomb attached to it.

“Well, fuck. Maybe it’s Tuesday after all.”

* * *

**_Shou-Lao and Shou-Hei were deities, deserving of praise and honor._ **

Daredevil and the others arrive in the bottom of the pit just as Danny breaks free of his restraints. Daredevil doesn’t bother waiting for the elevator to stop before he’s out and over the edge, dropping down among a loud splash of quiet breathing and ensuring he lives up to the Murdock reputation of making an entrance. That’s when his nose gets the better of him and he realizes the entire room reeks of death and nothing else. For a moment, copper and rot and body fat are all he can perceive and he has never been gladder for Jess having no battle courtesy and stepping in to knock out an opponent going for his head.

“Pay attention, Devil Boy. Or are those ears failing you now?”  
He ignores her, shoving down the scents and locking them away in favor of moving into the fight. He can hear Elektra snipping at Danny and the quick, silken movements she uses to dodge. Skilled as he and his friends are, there are so many Hand, and while none are fantastic, they are all _capable_. It makes it difficult to force his way to Elektra and talk sense into her.

_~~“Do you want children?”~~ _

_~~“I do love you.”~~ _

~~She has to see sense.~~

**_Shou-Hei blotted out the sun when he appeared._ **

He’s close, _so close_ , to getting to her when she dodges nimbly to the side as Danny punches her, his body lit up with heat and pheromones in a way Daredevil has quickly realized only happens when the Iron Fist makes an appearance.

There’s a shock, the ground shaking, the world shifting and Daredevil can make out several Hand soldiers dying as loose rubble shifts and falls.

“ _Finally_ ,” Elektra breathes, and stale air blows from the new gap. Around them all, Hand soldiers stop fighting, falling to their hands and knees to kowtow.

Daredevil makes his way forward, closing the gap between him and Elektra. He regrets it when Elektra releases a screeching wail, her voice reverberating in dismay that shifts to anger.

**_While Shou-Lao was wise and ancient, Shou-Hei was as black as his name and demanded human blood to be appeased._ **

“What is _this_?!” There’s a few shifts in the Hand, and Daredevil can only assume what has her so upset is visual. Over sweat, blood, bodies, and everything else, he can’t make out any new smell from what _sounds_ like a long, _large,_ cavern. “You said this is how we meet the Beast. This is how I meet _my father!_ ”

One of the Hand soldiers stutters, fear and shock and alarm thick in his voice and body. Elektra twists away, quick as a snake, and goes for Danny.

“ _You!_ This is your fault, what did you _do_?”

Danny gives a low chuckle. “This wasn’t my doing. Your people mistranslated that wall.”

**_He did not care or protect those who worshiped him, as Shou-Lao did._ **

“No.” Her voice goes quiet, anger and grief laying thick across her tongue. “ _No_.” She lashes out, and Daredevil curses himself for his distraction. Danny dodges the first blow, the second, blocks the third, and can only put a little distance between himself and the fourth. Fresh blood mixes with the old, and Daredevil manages to pull Elektra off him. She twists in his arms, lashing out, and Daredevil falls into the deadly cadence of a battle for his life.

“Elektra, _please_ , calm down.”

**_He gave them another gift instead. His own blood so that humans might have a sliver of his immortality to better serve him._ **

“I can’t. I _won’t_. They lied to me, Matthew. All my life, everyone’s always lied about my parents and now _this_? Bones, Matthew, that’s all that’s here. I was told a sacrifice and the Iron Fist could bring down the wall and show me my father.” She gives a harsh laugh and Daredevil catches a cut on his arm, before twisting and turning her arms to make her drop her Sai. Being weaponless makes no difference when you are a weapon though.

“Elektra, we can figure out who your father is. I swear I’ll help, but you have-”

**_These children of Shou-Hei tempted followers of Shou-Lao, turning them corrupt with promises they could not keep._ **

“You don’t _get it_ , Matthew.” There’s a disturbance further back, and Matt realizes Beelzebub has finally joined them, heartrate far too high and voice shaking with urgency as he calls for all of them to retreat.

“Elektra, this has never mattered to you before.”

She laughs again, cruel and high and Matt misses her low, cultured chuckle more than anything at the moment. “This is _all_ that matters to me, Matthew. Stick _promised me_ he’d tell me one day. Instead he kept it hidden until the Hand offered the truth in a sheath.”

“Daredevil! We don’t have time for this.” Matt twitches at his son’s call and Elektra takes advantage of the brief distraction, twisting and hurling him into a pillar of something he can’t identify without taking his gloves off. Whatever had made Elektra break.

**_Shou-Lao took grave offence when those sworn to give loyalty turned to another._ **

“Looks like he found the explosives,” she drawls. “I wanted a backup plan, in case someone tried stopping this.” Her voice dips with rage again. “Not that it matters _now_.”

He flips her, sending her against the pillar he had just hit. She loses her breath and he goes back in. Grappling, he twists, taking a hit to his throat, another to his temple, but he manages to get her on her front. She rears back, head snapping into his nose and he feels the crunch of bone. His grip is loose enough now that she manages to twist free, throwing him back. There’s a hand on his shoulder and it takes him a second to realize it’s Beelzebub, pulling him back insistently.

**_Shou-Hei decided he’d have all the humans worship him as the sole beast-of-power._ **

“We have probably barely a minute,” he gasps. He shoves Matt out of the way quickly, turning from Elektra and letting her kick pass into air. Matt goes for her legs and she goes with the movement, letting it spin her in the air until she lands low and goes for his center of gravity. She’s pulled back abruptly, web on her shoulder. She reaches back, going to pull, but Matt stops her by forcing her to twist with the arm he pulls back, lest she break it. Beelzebub responds by webbing the arm there, and she snarls, kicking out. Matt takes another hit, but it gives Beelzebub enough time to get her webbed properly.

**_Yet Shou-Lao, in his wisdom, trusted those who remained true to him and gifted his own sliver of power to the worthiest._ **

“ _Let’s go_ ,” his son demands and Matt hauls ass, keeping close as Beelzebub lugs Elektra, screeching and writhing, up onto his shoulder before reaching for Matt himself. Only then does Matt realize the elevator is gone, Luke, Danny, and Jess’s heartbeats high above them. Hand soldiers remain, some unconscious, some wailing just as Elektra is. Beelzebub slings a web up high and launches them. There’s a moment of being weightless, before gravity takes hold and Beelzebub releases the web, letting it hang free as he sends up another. Matt hears Belphegor, over Beelzebub’s comm, quietly counting down the seconds they have until the bomb goes off.

Which is why it nearly kills him when, after they reach the top, Elektra twists up, a small dagger in her palm, cutting her free of the webs. Beelzebub curses and Matt reaches for her but she pushes off, cutting free the web Beelzebub attaches to her.

**_While Shou-Lao and Shou-Hei did battle, so too did their chosen._ **

Beelzebub steps towards the ledge but Matt

_~~“I do love you.”~~ _

_~~“Hi, Peter, I’m your father.”~~ _

grabs his shoulder and pulls him towards where the others are calling them to hurry their asses up. He can hear Belphegor’s shaking voice as he whispers “ _30, 29, 28_ ,” and they all run, not bothering with proper paths and choosing instead to find the nearest window and jump.

**_Shou-Lao triumphed over Shou-Hei, but Shou-Hei’s blood still lived in human lines, so the Iron Fist was charged with keeping the peace._ **

~~Priorities.~~

They crash through and Beelzebub grabs Danny and Matt at the last second to ease the shake in their bones as they land, before pushing them forward, putting on a burst of speed with them. There’s a ring of cops around the building though Matt can blessedly not hear any civilians.

It makes it easier to pretend he can’t still hear Elektra’s final whisper as she fell.

_“All I want is to know what made me.”_

**_Let this tomb remind those who would turn the sky black that Shou-Lao and his disciples strike swift and true._ **

* * *

**Supers Defend NYC Once Again**

_By Karen Page, Reporter for the Bulletin, February 17 th, 2016_

New York City has recently once again been the center of violence. Midland Circle, what was a financial company headquarters, was the center of an explosion two days ago. Reports investigating the earthquake from earlier this week also indicate that the earthquake was centered over Midland Circle. One has to wonder what exactly Midland Circle was involved in. The story is more complicated.

In recent weeks, there has been a surgency of heroin sales and use. While drugs have long since filled back alleys and high rises of New York, the reason this is important is that those who used the new heroin tended to disappear. The NYPD, worried for the lives of those missing, put together a task force compiled of the best and brightest within our city. Led by Harlem Detective Misty Knight, this task force followed leads and eventually hunted down a private informant who gave them the chance to find answers.

Their PI told them that a cult, feared in the underground of our city, was behind the disappearance, though for what purpose they didn’t know. This same informant later gave them a warning—a bomb had been planted in Midland Circle.

Moving quickly, the NYPD evacuated surrounding buildings and called in bomb control. It was too late, though, for moments before they could get in, five figures burst through one of Midland Circle’s windows, glass scattering as the only warning before Midland Circle lit up and collapsed down.

Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Danny Rand—the first two of whom are known supers and have been accused of vigilantism, and the latter of which has been accused of powers after a video released of his fist glowing—were joined by known vigilantes, Daredevil and Beelzebub. The last two fled the scene immediately, but the former three stayed for statements to be taken. While Miss Jones did the speaking, the other two were in agreement with her.

They’d been targeted for their powers by a cult who’d kidnapped and killed innocents by getting them addicted to heroin. The cult’s plan remains unknown, only that they’d wanted supers for their foul purpose. Daredevil and Beelzebub intervened, however, and while the other victims were long since dead, they managed to free Jones, Cage, and Rand. Together, these five supers fought their way free and insured the cult would not have a chance to harm anyone again. Sadly, the cult’s backup plan involved explosives and so the bodies of the victims remain buried under Midland Circle.

While the cult’s goal remains unknown, one thing isn’t. The unregistered or approved digging beneath Midland Circle caused instability within the earth and caused the earthquake. Sources say that had the digging continued, all of New York would’ve collapsed as the foundations weakened. Ironically, the explosion actually stabilized the earth.

Without these five defending New York, the city would’ve been destroyed just as surely as it would’ve been in 2012 without the Avengers.

* * *

 **BigDD (@marrymedaredevil):** @maskwatchnyc I know about the #defenders saving the city, but did you hear about the #mutant drama at an orphanage?

 **Hero Finder (@maskwatchnyc):** @marrymedaredevil yeah. #Deadpool and two other unknows intervened when an anti-super abused a #mutant kid in the orphanage.

 **N0rmal (@nosuperdicks):** @maskwatchnyc fucking lie. The kid lost his shit and attacked the headmaster of his group home. Proof enough that we shouldn’t let supers run around unsupervised.

 **Hero Finder (@maskwatchnyc):** @nosuperdicks are you kidding me? The kid was ten and in the week since the X-Men took him in, he’s done nothing wrong. Don’t gaslight.

 **N0rmal (@nosuperdicks):** @maskwatchnyc not gaslighting. Just because the mutants are covering up whatever new bullshit they’re getting away with, doesn’t mean it’s not happening. I’ll be happy when the president steps in and puts a stop to them running around uncontrolled.

  1. **Jonah Jameson (@dailybuglepublisher):** @nosuperdicks you’re about to get your wish. A conference at the White House has been announced for next week.



* * *

February 26th, 2016 is a bright, warm, sunny day outside the White House. Unseasonably nice, one might wonder if there is a reason that today, when the White House reveals their much demanded plan to control superhumans, is the nicest day of the last few months.

~~One might consider global warming but that’s beside the point.~~

President Ellis comes out first, after being announced. Lips pinched, shoulders tense, he greets everyone and thanks them for coming. He briefly goes over how supers have affected the country in the last decade and what laws have been placed for them so far. And then he does something unusual.

“Captain America was a superhuman decades ago, long before we even coined the term. But in this century, another gained fame and notoriety for being the first enhanced individual. This figure has been an ally in forming a new system and a prominent figure of the super community. And so, I think it only fair to let him announce our new plans. Please, welcome Tony Stark, better known as Iron Man.”

Tony Stark comes forward, smiling and at ease, glasses hiding his eyes. After shaking President Ellis’s hand, he steps forward to the podium.

“It’s been a lot of years since I first put on the armor,” he began. “But despite the gray in my hair, I have no reservations about helping people.” His grin slips and he goes solum. “I only regret that I could not help more. Poor management and organization mean that, while supers mean the best, they cannot always _do_ their best.

“With that in mind, it is my absolute delight to announce a new branch of the National Security Agency. Tasked with the overview, training, and deployment of superheroes, the National Superhuman League will have its first headquarters built in New York City, where Midland Circle once stood. Superheroes—be they mutant or mutate, enhanced or extraterrestrial—will have the _option_ of enlisting. After they sign up, they’ll be tested for a power and capabilities placement. They’ll be assigned duties and patrol schedules based on a four tier system. Any super who does _not choose_ to join the NSL will be arrested if they harm anyone with their powers and be tried as a super under the full power of the law. Vigilantism unsanctioned by the NSL will have a _zero tolerance_ policy going forward and, indeed, the NSL will be the ones conducting any arrests against superhumans.

“Superhumans are the future, but it will be a future of organization and peacekeeping.”

**Author's Note:**

> :)  
> Hope you enjoyed THAT end.  
> Srs, tho, do NOT expect the last fic soon. Mostly because I 1. have NOT outlined it and so have no idea how long it's going to be B) still have to finish figuring out the structure of the NSL and thirdly; have a not-so-little bonus content thing that needs to be put together and finished before I can release the final story. Hold on tight for that.


End file.
